Goebbels36: WarUNTIL the last moment, Dr Goebbels hoped that the western powers werebluffing, but feared that they were not.1 After Hans Fritzsche provided anopinion analysis showing that the British were determined to fight, Goebbels submitteda thoughtful memorandum to Hitler.2 At his press conference that FridaySeptember 1, after Hitler’s historic speech to the Reichstag, Goebbels was able touse plain talk again—which he called ‘a real blessing.’ Be that as it may, he directededitors to avoid using the word war and to adopt instead the formula: ‘We are fendingoff Polish attacks.’3 On the morning of the third his press attaché Moritz vonSchirmeister briefed him on the latest news from Reuters.Goebbels asked: ‘What about Britain?’ Schirmeister replied that they had not declaredwar yet.‘Now you see!’ triumphed the minister. But an hour later Chamberlain’s ultimatumreached them. ‘Well, so it did happen,’ conceded Goebbels. Until that momenthe had not believed it.4 He repeated to the editors the injunction to use the word waronly sparingly.5 ‘Believe me,’ he told Göring, ‘we have not done all we have for sixyears to throw it all away in a war.’‘This will be a war about political ideas,’ he wrote in a twenty-five page memorandumfor Hitler entitled Thoughts on the Outbreak of War 1939. He described theGerman public mood at that moment as being ‘grim but calm.’ The disaster of 1918was fresh in many minds— ‘So there is nothing of the hooray-atmosphere of 1914,’562 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHhe warned. With each victory, however, their determination would grow—he himselfwould see to that. Foreshadowing the great dispute with Ribbentrop that wasbeginning, he insisted that the entire foreign propaganda effort be concentrated inone hand—namely his own. He saw great propaganda opportunities this time: unlike1914, the declarations of war had come from the enemy; and the British andFrench were repeatedly overflying neutral Holland and Belgium, and committingother violations of international law. ‘Britain,’ he pointed out to Hitler, ‘is governedby the old men of 1914 who are incapable of thinking straight or logically because oftheir hate complexes.’ Poisoned by ‘Jewish capital,’ Britain would fight to the lastman, he prophesied—the last man, that was, of every other nation but herself, andparticularly the French. Only the foreign propaganda weapon, he suggested, woulddefeat Britain. Even bombing would not yield victory, given the famed tenacity ofthe British people.6The diary and other documents provide intrinsic evidence of how low he still wasin Hitler’s esteem. Hitler had barely consulted him about his war plans. He barelysaw Hitler during the Polish campaign; once he tried to reach Hitler by phone, butwas told he was away at the front.7 Ignoring Goebbels’ lengthy memorandum, heawarded all foreign propaganda work to Ribbentrop—a terrible rebuff to Goebbels.Hitler had an an enduring respect for Ribbentrop which subsequent historians havebeen unable to explain or share. ‘It is totally incomprehensible to me,’ Goebbelsrecorded, hearing of the draft decree. ‘It will destroy my entire ministry.’8 As will beseen, Hitler would thereafter keep from Goebbels vital information, for instanceabout the sinking of the British liner Athenia9, about the attempt on his life in November10,and, in 1940–41, about his intention to attack the Soviet Union.HITLER announced the opening of hostilities to the Reichstag on Friday September 1,1939. He wore a field-grey tunic adorned with the simple Iron Cross he had won inthe world war. Morale in Berlin that day was ‘grave but resolute,’ the deputy gauleiterreported. Chamberlain threatened war if Hitler did not pull his troops out of Poland.‘Wait and see,’ was Goebbels’ private comment.11 He ordered the press toGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 563mute its remarks about London and Paris, reserving its full venom for Warsaw.12 ‘Thesituation has undergone one remarkable change,’ he noted. ‘Mussolini
